Rotary screen decorating machine



Feb. 4, 1969 B. E. JAEGER I 3,425,343

ROTARY SCREEN DECORATING MACHINE Filed Oct. 20, 1965 Sheet of 5 INVENTOR. EENJA M//\/ 5. J4 565/? ATTORNEYS,

Feb. 4, 1969 B. E. JAEGER 3,425,343

ROTARY SCREEN DECORATING-MACHINE Filed 001;. 20, 1965 Sheet 3 of 5 Y o 132 I33 85 IN VENTOR. BENJAMIN E. JAEGER BY Wv A TTORNEKS'.

Feb. 4, 1969 JAEGER v 7' 3,425,343

ROTARY SCREEN DECORATING MACHINE Filed Oct. 20, 1965 Sheet 3 of s M3 $52 10 108 m6 ,JZZ 73 E6. INVENTOR.

BENJA MN 5 JAEGER BY M6Mu ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,425,343 ROTARY SCREEN DECORATING MACHINE Benjamin E. Jaeger, Plano, Ill., assignor to Brockway Glass Company, Inc., Brockway, Pa. Filed Oct. 20, 1965, Ser. No. 498,820 US. Cl.. 101-36 Int. Cl. B41f 17/12; B411 13/06 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A silk screen stencil decorating apparatus for bottles wherein the stencil is an arcuate surface consisting of a portion of the peripheral wall of a vertical drum with This invention relates to the application of surface ornamentation or indicia by the silk screen process and to novel apparatus for effecting such application.

The art of silk screen printing is well known and widely practiced. As conventionally performed, the surface to be printed or decorated is placed flat on a table or other support and the silk screen, which serves as a stencil, is stretched in a rectangular frame which is disposed horizontally above and close to the surface to be decorated. A supply of ink or other coloring material is deposited on the upper surface of the screen and a squeegee is passed over such upper surface to spread the liquid or semi-liquid coloring material and squeeze it through portions of the silk screen which have not been masked over by coating or the like and against the surface to be decorated.

Virtually all silk screen printing or decorating is carried on by means of a horizontally disposed fiat sceen which is disposed above the surface to be printed or decorated. I have found that important advantages in silk screen printing or decorating are attained by employing a cylindrical silk screen unit disposed on a vertical axis, the printing being applied in a vertical plane against a vertically disposed surface to be printed or decorated.

In the prior art there is an isolated instance of apparatus for silk screen printing by means of a silk screen supported on a cylindrical drum, the drum being mounted for rotation on a horizontal axis and the surface to be printed comprising a continuous web or strip of textile fabric adapted to pass beneath the drum. This patent is to Stein et al. No. 2,928,340 dated Mar. 15, 1960. A further prior art patent, Jackson et al., No. 2,461,281 dated Feb. 8, 1949, proposes the practice of silk screen printing or stenciling by means of a flat rectangular stencil mounted in a vertical plane with a squeegee which is adapted to reciprocate vertically across the surface of the flat silk screen. Neither of these prior art patents disclose apparatus capable of producing the results aimed at herein.

While the apparatus of the present invention may be variously employed in effecting silk screen printing, the following discussion relates particularly to the employment of the apparatus in connection with printing or decorating the surfaces of objects such as bottles and jars while such bottles and jars are disposed upright. Furthermore, while the principles of the present invention are applicable to printing upon or decorating sur- 3,425,343 Patented Feb. 4, 1969 faces of bottles of various shapes, including flat bottles, the particular instance illustrated herein by way of example involves printing or decorating of round bottles since certain special problems are presented in such cases.

As stated heretofore, silk screen printing and decorating as commercially practiced is substantially universally performed in a horizontal plane. Bottles coming from a fabricating machine and passing through an annealing lehr and automatic inspection machines are always in an upright position since they stand firmly on their own bottoms in such position Without other support and are generally easiest to convey, inspect and otherwise handle and deal with in an upright position. Accordingly, in the commercial decoration or printing of bottles by the silk screen method, it has heretofore always been required that the bottles, jars or similar objects, which approach the decorating or printing machine in an upright position on a conveyor, be tipped over onto their sides and oriented with respect to the printing or decorating apparatus in this position. Following the conclusion of the printing or decorating step, in order to handle the bottles or jars in the conventional manner for inspection, packing, filling or such other manipulations as may be desired, it is necessary to again set the bottles upright for passage along the usual conveyors.

Since these tipping over and setting up operations of the bottles, jars or the like must be carried on automatically to be commercially practicable, machinery required for performing these functions is in many instances more costly and more complicated than the usual decorating or printing machinery itself. Despite the foregoing difficulties of printing bottles in a horizontal plane and the fact that these difliculties are vexatious and well recognized, no satisfactory means for printing or decorating bottles by the silk screen method while such bottles are in an upright position has heretofore been devised or proposed.

Apart from the difficulties incident to orienting articles for printing in a horizontal plane as now conventionally practiced, the continuous printing of a succession of articles by means of a flat silk screen usually involves the employment of a reciprocating screen or a reciprocating squeegee. Bottles and jars, for instance, are usually printed or decorated by employing a horizontal flat reciprocating silk screen frame. Since printing or decorating on articles of this kind must be carried on at a high rate of speed to be commercially practicable, the employment of a reciprocating screen with the jarring and wear and tear incident to rapid acceleration and deceleration of the screen and its supporting mechanism at a velocity of possibly several hundred times a minute greatly reduces the efficiency of operation of decorating apparatus of this character.

In the apparatus of the present invention the silk screen stencilling surface is applied to a drum or cylinder and the drum or cylinder is rotated continuously on a vertical axis, thus avoiding the rapid accelerations and decelerations which greatly reduce the efiiciency of currently employed reciprocating silk screen apparatus and also dispensing with the necessity for tipping upright articles to their sides for effecting the printing operation.

While the vertical cylinder or drum principle of silk screen stenciling may be employed in various adaptations, the particular apparatus set forth herein to illustrate this basic silk screen printing or decorating arrangement is designed particularly for operating upon the peripheral side walls of round articles such as bottles. In the specific apparatus thus disclosed the round bottles are presented to the stencil cylinder or drum in substantial tangency therewith, and by means which permits the bottle to be rotated on its vertical aXis. The bottle maintains a relatively fixed position during decorating and the squeegee within the drum presses the rotating stencil against the bottle so that the bottle is rotated by the frictional engagement of the rotating stencil against the surface of the bottle.

While a single specific embodiment of the principles of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in detail in the following specification, it is to :be understood that such embodiment is by way of example only and that various mechanical modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is limited only as defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a general somewhat fragmentary top plan view of one form of the apparatus of the present invention with portions removed for clearer illustration;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken approximately on the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view taken from the left-hand side of the machine as viewed in FIG. 2 showing the drive means; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of a portion of the structure above the stencil drum viewed from the opposite side of the machine from FIG. 2.

Like characters of reference denote like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings. In general, the machine disclosed herein by way of illustrating the novel principles of the present invention comprises two main interrelated and cooperating components, a printing or decorating component designated generally by the reference numeral in FIGS. 1 and 2, and an article handling component designated generally by the numeral 11 in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Still referring generally to the illustrated decorating machine and with particular reference to FIG. 1, the article handling portion of the machine comprises a belt conveyor 12 which carries a row of articles to a turret designated generally 13, and a second belt conveyor 14 which receives the articles from turret 13 after they have been decorated and carries them from the machine. In FIG. 2 the machine is shown midway through an indexing cycle while FIG. 1 shows an article, in the present instance a round bottle 16, presented to the printing or decorating means 10 and the latter acting thereon. While the parts are not in printing position in FIG. 2, a bottle 16 is shown in dot and lash lines in printing position, merely by way of orientation.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view taken from the opposite side of the machine from the printing or decorating means and illustrating the drive means for the various moving parts of the machine. A driving motor 1s designated 20 and a variable drive therefrom in the form of an adjustable pulley V-belt drive is designated 21.

FIG. 3 shows transmission means which embodies means for intermittently rotating turret B and for driving other portions of the machine, including the belt conveyors 12 and 14, the printing or decorating mechanism 10, and a feed screw shown at in FIG. 1 which receives and spaces bottles coming into the machine on belt conveyor 12 for presentation to turret 13 in properly timed and spaced relationship.

In FIG. 3 the numeral 23 designates a worm gear reducer unit which is driven from the variable V-belt transmission unit and has an output shaft 24 which projects from opposite ends of the reducer unit 23, ex tending at right angles to the paths of the conveyors 12 and 14. Reducer output shaft 24 extends through an intermittent drive unit 25 which has a vertical output shaft designated 26 in FIG. 1 which comprises the mountlng and drive shaft for turret 13.

The drive between reducer 23 and turret shaft 26 may be an ordinary Geneva drive but in the present instance a barrel cam index drive is employed because of greater efficiency, particularly as to effecting a given increment of rotative movement quickly and smoothly. Barrel cam index drives are commercially available and the details thereof need not be illustrated herein. Since turret 13 has eight stations, the cam drive member which is fixed to shaft 24 advances the cam on turret shaft 26 through an angle of 45 degrees for each rotation of shaft 24.

As shown in FIG. 1, turret 13 includes a horizontal disc or drum member 30 formed with eight equally spaced arcuate recesses 31 adapted to receive round bottles therein. At each side of each recess 31 a pair of vertically spaced wheels or rollers 32 is mounted for free rotation. Bottles entering the machine by way of conveyor 12 will usually be disposed in a closely spaced row, since the movement of bottles to the machine will generally be arranged to be slightly in excess of the printing or decorating capacity of the machine to insure a continuous supply of bottles to be printed.

Accordingly, means are provided for receiving bottles and spacing them at proper intervals for delivery to the successive bottle receiving recesses of turret 13. Referring to FIG. 1, a horizontal feed screw 35 is mounted alongside of conveyor 12 at the turret end thereof and an opposing spring backed vertical plate 36 is mounted at the other side of conveyor 12 so that bottles on the conveyor may pass between the feed screw 35 and plate 36 as indicated at 16 in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1 plate 36 is attached to rods 37 which extend from fixed casings 42 which contain springs for urging the rods 37 and plate 36 toward feed screw 35. Feed screw 35 is tapered at the entry end thereof to facilitate the entry of bottles into the spaces between the threads thereof and is of a progressively increasing pitch from the entry end to the end adjacent to turret 13, whereby feed screw 35 spaces bottles along the conveyor at the proper spacing for delivery to successive recesses in the turret as such recesses reach the conveyor 12 and dwell thereat momentarily.

As shown in FIG. 3, feed screw 35 is driven in timed relation with respect to turret 13 and conveyor belt 12 by a chain and sprocket connection 38 between conveyor drive shaft 39 and a shaft 40 which is connected to feed screw 35 by a miter gear connection 41 (FIG. 1). In FIG. 3 the numeral 44 designates the drive shaft for the outfeed conveyor 14 and the in-feed and out-feed conveyors are connected for joint operation by a chain and sprocket connection 45. Conveyor shaft 39 is driven from reducer 23 by chain and sprocket connection with reducer output shaft 24 as shown at 47 in FIG. 3.

The silk screen drum for effecting printing or decorating on successive bottles as they are presented thereto by operation of turret 13 is designated generally by the reference numeral 55 in FIGS. 1 and 2 and is fixed to the upper end of a vertical drive shaft 56 which is supported in bearings 57 and 58 carried by the machine framework. Output shaft 24 of reducer 23 terminates at its right hand end, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, in a bevel gear drive unit 59 having an output shaft 60 which is connected by a chain and sprocket drive 61 to drum shaft 56. Thus the drum 55 is rotated continuously but in timed relationship with the incremental arcuate movements of turret 13.

Since the turret 13 has eight stations and the drum 55 has two diametrically opposed printing stencils, thus printing two bottles for each rotation thereof, and since shaft 24 rotates the turret one-eights of a revolution for each rotation of shaft 24, the drive ratio between shaft 24 and drum 55 is 2:1.

Drum 55 comprises a vertical hollow cylindrical member 65 having a pair of diametrically opposite rectangular openings in its peripheral side wall as shown at 66 in FIG. 2, the silk screen stencil members being mounted over such openings as at 68. The bottom end of cylindrical member 65 is closed as at 69 whereby the drum 55 comprises a well for receiving a supply of liquid or semiliquid printing material.

The means for supplying such printing material continuously to the printing zone of the silk screen stencils 68 and for delivering the same through the stencil to the bottle will now be described. The printing material may be referred to herein generically as ink although in printing and decorating on glass bottles, for instance, the same will very often comprise a ceramic slip which may be fired to a vitreeous condition after application to the surface of a bottle. Also, organic printing materials including epoxy resins and. the like are employed for present purposes.

It is conventional to wipe a squeegee against one surface of a silk screen stencil while the opposite surface of the stencil lies against the surface to be printed or decorated. The squeegee presses the printing ink through unmasked portions of the stencil onto the surface to be printed. In the present instance a similar operational relationship is employed although the relative movements of the three component elements, namely the stencil, the squeegee, and the work surface, are novel.

In the present invention the stencil and the surface to be printed are both cylindrical and, during the actual printing operation, are supported on parallel vertical axes in tangency with respect to each other. While the primary form shown herein is for printing the sides of round bottles, the apparatus may be modified for printing oval bottles and by employing a frusto-conical stencil drum, printing on frusto conical surfaces such as the shoulders of bottles may be practiced.

The aforesaid squeegee is disposed vertically at the interior of the cylindrical stencil so as to bear thereagainst along the line of tangency between the two cylindrical surfaces, i.e., the stencil and the bottle. The bottle which is to be printed is freely rotatable at the printing station and accordingly, when the squeegee presses the rotating cylindrical stencil against the cylindrical bottle surface, the bottle is caused to rotate by frictional engagement with the cylindrical stencil. The squeegee itself is stationary during this rotational frictional engagement although, as will presently appear, means are provided whereby the squeegee is periodically moved bodily toward and away from engagement with the interior surface of the cylindrical squeegee so as to be in engagement therewith only during the actual printing operation, during which the squeegee effectively establishes the driving frictional tangential engagement between the exterior surface of the rotating cylindrical stencil and the cylindrical surface of the rotatably supported bottle.

The squeegee and ink feeding mechanism is designated generally by the reference numeral 72 in FIG. 2 and is mounted as a unit on an inverted L-shaped bracket 73 which is pivoted to the machine framework as at 75 in FIG. 2. By means of this pivotal mounting the entire squeegee and ink feeding mechanism may be swung upwardly out of the drum 55 for cleaning, setting up, and for various other purposes.

Referring particularly to FIG. 2, the squeegee itself comprises the usual rubber or other strip 76 mounted upon a block 78 which is carried by a bracket 79, the bracket 79 being mounted for horizontal movement from left to right as viewed in FIG. 2 for moving the squeegee cyclically against the interior of the cylindrical stencil to effect successive printing operations. For this purpose bracket 79 is fixed to a pair of slide bearing members 80 which are slidably mounted on a pair of shafts 82 which are fixedly mounted at their ends to the underside of L-shaped bracket 73.

An extension coil spring 84 normally urges the carriage structure comprising bracket 79 and Slide bearings 80 to the left as viewed in FIG. 2 to urge squeegee 76 against the silk screen members 68 and a cam mechanism is provided for retracting the squeegee between printing operations. As shown in FIG. 2 coil spring 84 connects between the extreme left hand portion of bracket 73 and a point on bracket 79 between the slide bearings 80.

The cam for withdrawing the squeegee from the screen stencil surface between successive printing operations comprises an internal flange formation at the upper end of the cylindrical member 65 of drum 55, such camming flange being designated 85 in FIGS. 1 and 2. A cam follower roller 86 fixed to the under side of a forward portion of the carriage comprising bracket 79 and bearings is held in peripheral engagement with cam flange by the action of coil spring 84. In FIG. 1 cam 85 is illustrated in a position midway in an actual printing operation whereas in FIG. 2 the parts are illustrated midway between successive printing operations wherein the squeegee is withdrawn from engagement with the interior of the stenciling screen surface.

The means for maintaining a continuous supply of ink at the interior surface of each of the silk screen stencil portions 68 of the drums 55 in the vicinity of the printing zone, and more particularly ahead of the vertical operative edge of squeegee 76, will now be described. An ink feeding belt 90 extends about a pulley 91 carried by bracket 73 and a pulley 92 carried by an arm 93 extending downwardly from bracket 73. Pulley 91 is driven by belt connection with a pulley 95 on the output shaft of a reducer unit 96 which is driven by an electric motor 97. Motor 97 and reducer 96 are mounted as a unit on bracket 73 for pivotal movement therewith.

An inclined channel or chute member 100 carried by the upper end of arm 93 has its upper end lying closely adjacent to or in scraping relation with the periphery of belt 90 as it passes about upper pulley 91 and the lower end of the inclined channel member 100 lies closely adjacent to the upper end of squeegee 76. A supply of liquid or semi-liquid decorating material, such for instance as a ceramic slip in the case of ceramic stencilling or bottles, is maintained in the interior bottom of drum 55. Pulleys 91 and 92 rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 and belt 90 picks up a supply of ink on its surface and carries the same upwardly whereupon it is scraped or delivered into channel 100 and flows downwardly to a deflector plate 101 carried by squeegee block 78 which guides the ink to the operating edge of squeegee 76. The ink flows downwardly along or closely adjacent to squeegee 76 at the leading side thereof, the side which is toward the viewer in FIG. 2, and since drum 55 rotates in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1, the ink is fed to the stencil and squeegee mechanism in a highly eflicient manner for distribution along the effective portion of the interior of each stencil 68.

Means are provided for holding the squeegee mechanism in an inoperative extreme right-hand position as viewed in FIG. 2 to facilitate pivotal movement thereof about pivot shaft 75 to raise the same from drum 55 without interference with interior portions of drum 55. Such means comprises a latch mechanism shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view taken from the opposite side of the structure from FIG. 2. FIG. 4 also illustrates a toggle clamp arrangement for selectively locking the squeegee mechanism in its operative position within drum 55.

A latch member 105 is pivoted to squeegee mechanism supporting bracket 73 as at 106 and is urged resiliently upwardly by a spring mechanism contained within an adjustable screw 107. A lug 108 is carried by the squeegee support means comprising bracket 79 and bearings 80 and when latch 105 is in the position illustrated in FIG. 4 it retains the squeegee support structure in an extreme left-hand position as viewed in FIG. 4 which constitutes an extreme right-hand position as viewed in FIG. 2, wherein the squeegee 76, the inking belt 90 and its supporting pulleys, and all parts of the squeegee mechanism supported by bracket 79 freely clear the interior portions of drum 55 upon pivotal movement of the squeegee mechanism on pivot shaft 75 to raise the same above the drum 55 or return the same downwardly into the drum.

Referring now to the toggle linkage means for retaining the squeegee mechanism securely in its lowered operative position, the linkage mechanism being illustrated in FIG. 4 but omitted from FIG. 2 for clarity of illustration, an upright support plate 110 is mounted against the machine framework by means of screws 111 operating in vertical slots for vertical adjustment of plate 110. A cross plate 113 fixed to plate 110 carries micrometric adjustment means in the form of screw means 112 which act against the machine framework to entablish an accurately adjusted height for the toggle support means comprising plates 110 and 113. The outboard end of squeegee mechanism support bracket 73 includes a rail 114 against which the toggle mechanism engages for locking the squeegee mechanism.

A pair of brackets 115 pivotally support a pair of arms 116 which has adjustable screw means 117 at their outer ends for adjustable downward engagement against bar 114 of bracket 73. A horizontal manual release bar 120 is fixed to the upper end of a pair of arms 121 which are pivoted at their lower ends to arms 116 as at 122. A pair of toggle links 123 are pivoted at their upper ends to arms 121 as at 124 and at their lower ends to brackets 115 as at 125.

The toggle locking mechanism thus described is shown in FIG. 4 in its locking position. Movement of horizontal release bar 120 in a horizontal direction (to the right as viewed in FIG. 4) pivots arms 121 on arms 116 and moves the toggle links 123 from their position of alinement therewith to break the toggle and move the arms 116 upwardly about their pivotal connections to supporting bracket 115.

Referring now again to FIG. 2, a generally semi-circular horizontal plate 130 is supported by the machine framework with its upper surface approximately coplanar with the upper surfaces of the conveyor belts 12 and 14 whereby articles received in the recesses of turret 13 from belt conveyor 12 moves arcuately along the top of semicircular plate 130 through the printing operation and to the upper surface of the outfeed conveyor belt 14. A similar semi-circular plate member 131 is secured to the machine framework as by means of brackets 132, 133 and overlies bottles moving along support plate 130 to prevent inadvertent upward displacement of such bottles.

Referring to FIG. 1, a pair of arcuate rail members 134 and 135 likewise fixed to the machine frame extend, respectively, from the infeed conveyor 12 to drum 55 and from drum 55 to the outfeed conveyor 14. Areuate rails 134 and 135 are positioned to retain bottles in the recesses 31 of turret 13 in their movements from the infeed conveyor to the printing station and from the printing station to the outfeed conveyor in an obvious manner.

Various means may be employed for interchangeably applying stencils to the exterior of drum 55. By way of example, each stencil 68 may be attached to a fiat sheet metal frame, the framing portions being of substantial width in the plane of the stencil to provide rigid support for the stencil while the relatively thin sheet metal of the frame flexes readily to permit the same to be flexed arcuately against the periphery of the drum 55, to which the sheet metal frame of the stencil may be detachably secured by screws or in various other ways.

It is to be understood that the term ink as used herein and in the appended claims is intended to cover any fiuid or semi-fluid printing or decorating medium capable of being applied by a stenciling process.

It is further to be understood that the term squeegee as used herein embraces any wiping or ink expressing mean which may be employed at the interior of the stencil.

While the stenciling drum is referred to herein as having a generally vertical axis, it is to be understood that this position of the drum axis is relative and the drum axis may vary somewhat from the vertical, as in printing on tapered bottles and tumblers and other inclined surfaces.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for imprinting side wall surfaces of a series of articles comprising imprinting means and article presenting means, said imprinting means comprising a cylindrical drum having a generally vertical axis and stencil means disposed in a peripheral wall portion thereof, means for continuously rotating said drum, and a relatively stationary vertical squeegee within said drum and engageable against the interior surface of said stencil means along a vertical line for wiping action against said stencil means upon rotation of said drum, said article presenting means comprising means for successively presenting said articles against said drum tangent thereto at said squeegee, said articles being movable against said drum by frictional engagement therewith at a surface speed equal to the surface speed of said drum whereby printing material is progressively pressed through said stencil against said article surfaces by said squeegee, and means for discharging ink in the vicinity of the upper end of said squeegee for gravity fiow downwardly adjacent thereto at the leading side thereof.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the lower interior of said drum comprises an ink well and wherein means are provided for raising ink from said well for discharge in the vicinity of the upper end of said squeegee.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 973,520 10/1910 Lafiitte 101-120 1,485,543 3/1924 Wysong 101-37 1,675,442 7/1928 Zeitinger 101-120 2,009,098 7/1935 Smith et a1 101-124 2,114,323 4/1938 Simonton 101-124 2,327,668 8/1943 Rempel 101-114 2,767,647 10/1956 Hakogi 101-40 3,264,980 8/1966 Rudolph et al. 101-40 3,269,305 8/1966 Rossi 101-35 WILLIAM B. PENN, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 101-120 

